Chaeles h



(No Model.)

C. H. MOORE.

WATER CLOSET DRIP TRAY.

No. 331,993. Patented Dec. 8, 1885.

whim/wow Man/km MW. e? M szs m M n'znsv Phmmumcgnphar, Walhingion. 0.0.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. MOORE, OF YONKERS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO \VILBUR F. WASHBURN, OF SAME PLACE.

WATER-CLOSET DRI P-TRAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 331,993, dated December 8, 1885.

Application filed June 26, 1885. Serial No. 169,846. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. MOORE, residing at Yonkers, in the county of Westches-- ter and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Water-Closet Drip-Trays, of which the following is a specification.

The common practice in using drip-trays has been to make them with holes near their edges, and attach them to the under side of the seat-frame by screws passing through these holes. But this mode of attachment is objectionable, because the drip-trays generally become more or less warped in making or in handling, or in the process of enameling, and as the screw-holes are always at the same points it often happens that when the trays are in place the holes come at its highest points, so that when the screws are put in the tray does not hug the frame all along its edges, but leaves spaces between it and the frame, which allow slops to escape and rot the frame. The screw-holes are also an objection,because their edges are exposed and gradually rust, and, besides this, the enamel generally cracks, breaks off, and exposes the iron still more.

The object of my invention is to dispense with the screw-holes, and to enable the tray to be easily attached in place in such a way that it shall fit and touch the seat-frame all around its edge, and, if desired, so that it can be easily removed. To accomplish this I attach the tray to the seat-frame by means of independent clamps,which can be screwed to the frame at any points along the edge of the tray, so as to clamp and hold the edge in contact with the frame at the points where it would otherwise sag down.

My invention is shown in the drawings, Figure 1 being a top view of the seat-frame; Fig. 2, a side View in section; Fig. 3, a modified form of clamp, and Fig. 4 an improved form of drip-tray.

B is the seat-frame, and D the seat supported in the common way. A is the drip-tray, made like any of the drip-trays in common use, which are usually made of enameled iron and of a dishing form, as I have shown. The

preferable way of supporting this drip-tray is to attach it to the under side of the seatframe, though it may be attached to other parts of the wood-work, if desired. I attach the tray to the seat-frame by small clamps O, which I prefer to make of brass, and which are screwed to the seat-fran1e and project under the edge of the tray, as clearly repre sented. I have shown the clamps placed at equal distances from each other; but in practice they would be placed where the tray-edge tended to spring downward, so as to spring the edge of the tray into the plane of the woodwork and make the tray hug the frame all around its edges, thereby preventing escape of water or slops through the cracks that would otherwise be left. When it is desired 6 to remove the tray, all that is necessary is to loosen the screws that hold the clamps and turn the clamps a quarter-way around, when they will permit the tray to drop out. By this mode of attaching the tray the screwholes are avoided, the enamel is prevented from cracking and the tray from rusting, and the tray,which is usually more or less warped or its edges distorted, is made to fit the seatframe closely, so as to prevent the leakage of water, besides which it enables the tray to be quickly removed. Fig. 3 represents a clamp screwed to the frame with two screws, which of course may be used, if preferred.

To cause the tray always to fit the front board or riser E closely in front, where there are no clamps, the tray simply resting on the riser, I have deviseda further-improvement, which consists in shaping the front edge of the ,tray as represented in Fig. 4. Sometimes the front edge, a, of the tray A happens to be curved slightly upward, so that when it is held down upon the riser at its corners by the seat-frame to which it is screwed there is nothing when the seat is up to bring 0 down this edge and make it fit the edge of the riser E. To counteract this effect, I make the trays so that their front edges have a slight downward spring, so that when they are pressed down at the corners the tray touches 5 the riser all along its front edge.

As already stated, I am aware that it has been common to attach drip-trays to the under side of seat-frames by screws passing through the edges of the tray, such a construction be- I00 ing described, for example, in patents to Adee, No. 260,816, and Demarest, N 0. 199,806. I am also aware that bowls and wash-basins have points around its edges, are applied at those 2 5 points where the edge tends to sag down or spring away from the seat-frame, so that the been attached to marble and other slabs by clamps not only serve to hold the tray in place,

clamps let into or bolted to the slab, such construction being described in the patent to Connolly, No.283,699, for example. But both of these constructions are essentially different from myinvention, because with Adees mode of attachment, the screw-holes being at fixed points, there are no means of changing the points of fastening to suit the differently Warped or sprung trays that are used in practice, and the screws only perform the simple function of holding the trayin place; and in Connollys construction the basins, being rigid and having a true rim or flange, do not require to be sprung or bent to fit the slab, and his clamps simply perform the function of holding the basin in contact with the slab, whereas in my invention the drip-trays, being of thin and more or less flexible material,and having irregularly warped or undulating edges, and the fasteners being capable of being set at any but perform the further function of springing the edges,so as to hug the seat-frame closely all around and prevent leakage of slops.

Therefore what I claim as my invention, and desire 'to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1; A water-closet drip-tray with a flexible edge or rim attached to the seatframe by 3 5 clamps screwed to the frame at points where the tray and frame do not fit, so as to spring the edge even with the frame, whereby the unavoidable irregularity of thin drip-trays is overcome and a tight joint obtained, substano tially as described.

2. A water-closet drip-tray'having one of its edges formed with a slight downward curve, substantially as described.

CHARLES H. MOORE.

Witnesses:

WILBUR F. WASHBURN, FRANCIS B. CROOKER. 

